origin

The theory of evolution takes hold-transforming ideas about survival, extinction, and life itself. Can species change? Or go extinct? In the eighteenth century, most people answer no to both questions. But in the century that follows, that certainty gets challenged as some people in Europe question the common belief that all creatures are the same as they've been since life's creation.

"The notion of a living world is one of humanity's oldest beliefs. Though scorned by scientists in the sixties and seventies, the facts supporting this concept have now become tenets of modern Earth system science, a relatively young field that studies the living and nonliving components of the planet as an integrated whole. Life did not evolve passively in response to its environment, as scientists have long assumed. Instead, it evolved with Earth, shaping its climate and terrain at every scale, one part in a great orchestra, in which non-living elements-the air, rocks, and water-are the instruments that life, in its multitudes, has emerged to play"--Provided by publisher.

A Harvard geologist presents a narrative chronicle of the Earth's 4.6-billion-year evolution that places the environmental crises of today's world in a context that explains the planet's fragile capacity to support life.

"Scientists spend a lot of time trying to learn about the earliest Americans, but much remains unknown. Who were they? When, how, and from where did they enter the land? What is their relationship to modern Native Americans? Anthropologists develop theories to answer these questions based on the evidence they discover. Their theories--and the discoveries that prove and disprove them--are highlighted in this informative volume. Readers will feel like anthropologists and archaeologists themselves as they study photographs and read about bones and artifacts and what they reveal about the ancient cultures that roamed America many thousands of years ago"--Provided by publisher.

"Unlock the mystery of life on planet Earth . . . with a talking bacterium! In this full-color graphic novel, Bertie the Bacteria takes readers on a joke-fueled journey, revealing how small organisms became some of Earth's largest creatures, including the epically humongous blue whale. With laugh-out-loud text and colorful comic book art, science lovers and comic book fans alike will delight in exploring the history of our precious blue planet"--.

"A . . . depiction of the earliest days of our universe and life on Earth. Our whole universe began as a tiny dot, filled with so much hot, dense energy that it burst. This event was the Big Bang, and from the remnants of that explosion, our whole universe was born. From those earliest beginnings 3.5 billion years ago to the mighty dinosaurs who roamed Earth 250 million years ago, this is the story of how life adapted, evolved, and survived exploding stars, flying meteoroids, and natural disasters"--Publisher.

"A rhyming, nonfiction picture book about how dinosaurs evolved into birds"--Provided by publisher.

. . . this picture book takes readers way back in time to tell the story of how life on Earth began.

"A paleontologist and a storyteller take two children through the birth of our planet to the present day, covering major geological periods and the evolution of life on Earth"-- Provided by publisher.

"In the second 'Sapiens' volume, Yuval Noah Harari tells the story of how we took over the world; how an unlikely marriage between a god and a bureaucrat created the first empires; and how war, famine, disease, and inequality became a part of the human condition. The origins of modern farming are introduced through Elizabethan tragedy, the changing fortunes of domesticated plants and animals are tracked in the columns of the Daily Business News, and the story of urbanization is told as a travel brochure offering discount journeys to ancient Babylon and China"--OCLC.